Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Okay - yeah yeah, two photos, not one. Well, get over it, lol. I have a VERY limited number for this month because of being sick, and the move, etc. Anyway, this is our "Christmas" with Grammy & Pa in McMinnville, Oregon, (@ their house) when we visited earlier this month. Duncan got this "Cars" car from my Mom and he played with it SO much the WHOLE trip! It was such a hoot to watch him driving this humongous car around that was just about as big as his body! He loved it and loved pushing the buttons and rolling it through Grammy's kitchen.

This is a short blog as I've got to get back to packing... moving on Saturday! Ack!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I've debated back and forth with myself for 4 days now about whether or not to post this. It's not that it didn't happen or I didn't care, it's just hard. I know I'm not the most popular blog on the face of the planet but I don't want to be one of those "emo" blogs where I mope and cry all day. But I pretty much at this point have said just forget it, it hurts, I need to talk about it and if people don't want to read it, they can skip it.

She was such a wonderful friend. We were like long lost twins separated at birth, lol. She was from Denmark and was one of many siblings. She was investigating the church, moved to Utah to be with her then-boyfriend, and found me and asked if we could chit chat occasionally as she knew no one here. Much like me. She also had a small daughter, Celeste, who is now a year old - right under my two. Beyond our significant others' families, we really didn't know anyone around our ages here. We were sort of each other's strength, adjusting to the move and change.

I miss her terribly. I'm just trying to move on knowing that she would want me to. That she's in a better place than the hard times she had been going through on earth.

I guess this is feeling like an announcement. But, maybe this is what I need to do. Just announce my feelings on it, send it out there, and just know that it's okay and that we can all move past it.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Rant and rave! What holiday drives you nuts? Think of a holiday people fuss over. Write about loving and/or disliking that holiday.

Well there isn't a holiday I dislike per se, just how some people perform their pre-holiday//post-holiday duties. For example: Christmas.

I LOVE Christmas. What I don't love is that before I buy my turkey and potatoes for the big Thursday in November, I'm face to face with Santa signs, presents on end-caps, and sleighs in the parking lot. It does not go from Halloween to Christmas, one of the most looked over holidays is one we should be paying attention to. Thanksgiving is a time to - imagine that - give THANKS. Yet, we are so hasty and spoiled in our retail and grocery outlets and circles that before one holiday has even started we're almost DONE selling our items for the one to come next.

And oh my Susan B. Anthony - do not EVEN get me started on lights, decorations, and trees! People put them up SO early it's just ridiculous! They should NOT go up a day before Thanksgiving. We're missing the purpose at that point. I have no problem with the day after, that's fine. And really unless you have dire circumstances at place - for the love of all that is holy TAKE THEM DOWN when it's time! They should not be up NOW! They should not be up in March! It is not an excuse to have them up before Thanksgiving simply because they were already up!

Yikes. Little excited, lol. All in all, Christmas is wonderful, but please - keep with the Christmas etiquette. And if you're part of a radio station - pass the message along to your coworkers who seem to think it's okay to make people want to tear their ears off by playing "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" on November 1st.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Focus on JUST the first half hour of your waking day. Write a blog entry describing it in depth. Include details such as what time you wake up and what your mood is generally. Are you usually well rested? Do you use an alarm clock to wake? If so, is it set to music or buzzing? Use lots of descriptive words!The first half hour of my waking day...

We get up at 5:45, my husband has his alarm set on his cell phone which he, inevitably, NEVER hears. I have to physically shake him every morning to turn it off because my arms aren't long enough to reach over him to grab the phone. He has it set to the Beatles "Twist and Shout". I think he did it for me but as I'm pretty sure everyone has heard the song - it's no gentle croon. Doesn't really startle me though since it also vibrates and the first vibrate on our nightstand I hear. I'm awake in the milliseconds before the song actually starts.

So the alarm goes off at 5:45, I shake hubby to wake him, he wakes with a jolt as usual. (Literally, I feel awful but there is NO WAY to wake him nicely. I could kiss him awake, tickle him, blow on him, softly say his name - regardless. He jumps 10 feet no matter what I do.) I'm generally in normal/good mood. Just extremely tired as of late. He goes off to the shower while I... erm... shhh! I'm totally going to get busted for this. I lay in bed until he grabs his undies and shuts the bathroom door and then I go back to sleep! I'm so bad... he hates that I sleep while he's up, says he's tired too.

Anywho, most mornings I listen while I'm sleeping, good Mom quality there, and when he turns off the shower I jump out of bed and pull the blankets up. I'll grab my sweats or pj pants and sweatshirt from the ground (too hot to sleep in, too cold to walk around without) and I'll turn on a light. By the time he comes out, I'm making his side of the bed.

Now, if I don't wake up, he's learned to not say he's ticked off - that starts an unneeded battle (I mean REALLY, why do *I* have to be up before him? I'm up with the kids ALL night. Last night for like an HOUR). Instead, he just wakes me up not nicely, lol. AKA, flips on the overhead light, LOL.

Okay, so go back to the other paragraph, I'm now waking at like 6:10am (because I've gone back to sleep, LOL) so I pull on my clothes, make the bed, grab a vitamin and head for the kitchen. I make his breakfast and lunch, usually depends on the day as to what he gets. Yesterday for instance, he had bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. Leftover Spaghetti and rolls for lunch. Today, he had apple brownies for breakfast (YUM!) and leftover Chicken Crescents, rice with gravy, and an apple brownie for lunch. :-) I set the table for one, put his breakfast there and gather up the tupperware-d and baggie-d food into a Macey's or Walmart grocery sack.

He comes out shortly after, all fresh and clean, smells like toothpaste and bar soap. Honestly, it reminds me of my Dad. Bare with me while I get distracted... when I was growing up, after my parents were divorced, my Dad had us as a single Dad. Our arrangement was weird - Dad left for work @ 7am, my Mom would come over @ 7am and get us off to school and take the little ones home with her. So, anyway, we would read scriptures in the morning - we're LDS. So 6:30 in the morning we'd all go downstairs to the living room and read scriptures together. Dad will be putting on socks and shoes, sort of the finishing touches as we're all reading aloud together. And he ALWAYS smelled like toothpaste and bar soap. :-) Just a little Melissa history, lol.

Back on track - okay. So Hubbs comes out, thanks me for breakfast, sits down and eats as I'm bagging his lunch. I come and sit on the other side of him while he finishes. We chitchat. He's super loud, I probably shush him once or twice, lovingly of course. :-P It's about 6:25. He finishes his breakfast, puts the dishes in the sink - oddly enough, he ALWAYS takes everything but his cup the first time. Then he'll come back and take his cup.

He sits down and puts his socks on, grabs his coat from the hook, puts that on. He grabs his lunch and goes to the door to put his shoes on. (We have a little tiny front landing of "hard floor" as the kids call it and since it's snowy here in Utah, shoes are not allowed on the carpet and we always put them on while standing on the front landing.) I kiss him goodbye, tell him I love him, and ask him to take the garbage on his way (LOL, he's so nice) and we both tug/push on the door to close it behind him. Our house has just "shifted"... yeeeeah. I'm suuuure. When my husband can hardly close it without a fight... pretty sure it's a little PAST shifted, lol. Dumb apartments.

He goes down the stairs and then I can't hear anything but his car unlocking, it makes the alarm de-arming noise, the beep beep type deal. I turn off all the lights, flip on the hall light, grab my glasses from the bedroom, turn off the hall light, turn on the office light and push the power on the computer.

In the mornings it's mostly an answer-email, finish-posts, check blogs and forums, etc. time for me. The kids don't get up until 7:30 - ooooh they're sleeping in today! It's 8:00am!

Today is a little different as my Sudoku board has been distracting me. :-)

So yeah... detailed enough? :-)

Liv just woke up and had me come in the room. This was her "dream":

"I was looking at that picture and it fell down and I was looking at it verrrrry closely. And I saw two cousins jump in the water with a car."

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Monday, January 7, 2008

I may end up doing some of my scrapbooking on just two days this week and then posting for each day. We're leaving on Friday for Portland to see my parents and grandparents. I miss them all so much. Being this far away makes you realize how weird it is suddenly NOT being so close.

I've been posting my layouts as I've done them and I guess I'll just do my best to stay on top. Today I've got to do 3 as I'm behind. :-P I won't be eligible for Lain's challenge on my scrapbook class but I still want to finish with the right number of layouts. :-)

Technically, I've done extra but I'll just build off of that as if I haven't. I'm sure I can manage at least 2 before Cameron gets home. He'll probably tell me to scrapbook so that he can use this computer, lol. It's silly but still, it's nice just being able to sit in the same room sometimes. When I was working, I had to have just absolute silence at times but my Hubbs is always eager to tell me about his day, what he's reading on Consumerists (his favorite site), or asks me questions - and while scrapping I can answer and work at the same time, lol. :-)

So, off to pick some photos at least. Shouldn't be too hard.

BTW, things may get really crazy and posts may go way down. We still are having mold problems and the complex is STILL denying it's a health risk and have NOT cleaned it up. Hopefully, they'll accept our letter for dissolution of lease and let us leave with our deposit. If so, I'm going to be VERY busy. Pray for us and wish us luck - whichever suits you better I suppose, because we really need to get out of this place. :-(

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Look at the wall hangings on your walls. (family portraits excluded) Post a photo of your favorite one and write about it on your blog. Where did you get it? Why do you love it?

Here's mine. I've got a lot of Beatles memorbilia. This is one of 6 posters, only 2 are up right now. I collected them when I was younger - I did and still do love the Beatles but since I'm not 17 and decorating just my room anymore, lol, I don't hang all my musical posters. But I'd have to say right now, that's my favorite framed thing on my walls right now. This, and another print, are hanging in my office.

I just love the clean look of it. Not too busy or crazy, just simple. :-) Oh Paulie...

As to where I got it, my mom picked it up for me at a garage sale! Because of the broken glass, haven't replaced it yet, it was only $5-10. A STEAL! ;-)

Here's to completing the first challenge! Hurrah!

ETA: Excuse the reflection of the window. Even with the blinds closed... still a glare. :-P

So, for Christmas - my biggest and best gift this year was my Cuttlebug! I LOVE it. It was brought so much fun and creativity with it, I just can't believe it. :-) I even joined a free class put on by bigpicturescrapbooking.com called Get a LOAD of this! LOAD = LayOut A Day, meaning one page a day. The class is from Jan 1st to Jan 31st and so far it's been a lot of fun. I did one layout for the 1st and then 2 layouts plus an unfinished yesterday!

Here they are:

All were done with my new paper as well. :-) New paper for Christmas too and then Hubbs bought me a date stamp, pen, stamp pad, and refills for my adhesive. Such a wonderful Hubbs I have. :-)

One of those I fixed the date on and centered it, it was bugging me, lol. But how fun is this? A new toy and getting to go through old photos... I'm having so much fun with it. :-) It's actually helping me go through my photos a lot faster, both the bug and the class, sort of a motivator. I'll let you know if I win anything. :-)